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| JOEL PIRARD |
Any one familiar with the stylings of groups like YES, KANSAS,
GENESIS, RUSH, SUPERTRAMP, are going to find some common ground here." This cd will feature ALL of the original members,
notably bassist John Curtin on lead guitar and bass guitar for the song 'ONCE
STOOD A MAN', which he had written back in the band's performing days. A true epic piece, with lyrics by
drummer Bruce Henninger, .
Rounding out the band of course is Joel Pirard on keyboards.
Joel is the keyboardist and singer on Jester's Promenade's 'THE ARCHWAY', as well as one ot the songwriters, and
Dan Bonadeo on some truly stellar vocals for which he wrote the melody.
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| DAN FRANK |
Daniel Frank, the powerful voiced lead singer, occasional lyricist and melody maker of The Abuser, Once Stood a Man and The
Dreamer and the Dream Suite, as well as co-writing melodies for After the Call and Gulag, is Avalon USA's secret weapon. He
has an amazing ability to think up melodies to the words he is given almost instantly. Within a few sessions, he usually has
the whole thing laid out, and committed to memory!
One of our best assets, he is also the reason we played a YES tribute set at various shows throughout our existence.
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| JEFF KALMAR |
BUT this is not all! Not content with just one epic, the band
will have the complete suite, 'THE DREAMER AND THE
DREAM',
a four-part, Tolkien-meets-Shakespeare epic-fantasy set to music.
The story is written
by Bruce, as are all the lyrics, featuring 'Swampfire', 'Brief Return', 'Juggernaut', and 'Playing Possum',
each section stands alone as an individual piece, yet they are inextricably related. With Joel taking the bulk of
the music writing chores for part 1, John and Jeff for part 2, Joel and Jeff for part 3 and, Joel, Dan, and Jeff for
part 4, this truly is the ultimate collaboration. As in all of AVALON USA's music, the arrangements were done by
the whole band.
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| BRUCE HENNINGER |
Bruce Henninger, in addition to his great playing, is one of the lyricists in the band. Specifically, he wrote the lyrics
to Once Stood A Man , The Abuser, and The Dreamer & The Dream Suite.
Bruce is also a fan and writer of science fiction on an epic nature, often using stories as metaphors for the real world.
His words for us, inspired our playing. He is also the lyricist and drummer for the Jester's Promenade "The Archway"
release..
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| JOHN CURTIN |
It should be noted that Jeff' plays bass
on all of the Dreamer & The Dream suite, and on The Abuser in addition to all the guitars, except on Flight of Fantasy, and
Once Stood a Band, on which John plays both.Such was his respect for John's bass playing and writing, that he took it
upon himself to learn John's parts and write complementary bass lines once it became evident that John's
participation would be limited. In no way does that take away from the credit he is due. Live, AVALON USA used to
feature John on guitar and Jeff on bass in notable places, Once Stood a Man, and Flight of Fantasy so this
was not so far a stretch as it may seem.
John and our old ORION Band mate Roger Schnur, on drums are the sole musicians on the bonus track, Exploring the Deep'
John is also the guitarist and bassist and a songwriter on Jester's Promenade's 'The Archway" release
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